Biography (Level 42 in General)

Member Name: Level42

Product:	Level 42 in General
Date:	08/02/03 (285 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Jazz/Funk at it's 1980s best

Disadvantages: NONE

Formed in 1980 Level 42 takes its name from the Hitch hikers guide to the galaxy... the answer to the world, the universe and everything is 42 or in this case Level 42.

The original line up comprised 3 "corkers" or natives of the Isle of Wright, The Gould brothers, drummer Phil and guitarist Boon and band front man, bassist Mark King. The 3 had been playing together for some time when Phil introduced Mark to keyboard player Mike Lindup. A classically trained pianist, Mike had met Phil while studying at London's Guildhall School of music and soon discovered there mutual love of jazz greats such as Miles Davies. Thus Level 42 was born.

Their debut single "Love Meeting Love" was released in July 1980 on the "Elite Records" label, a small independent owned by Andy Sojka who sadly passed away in February 2000 aged 48. Although this debut single only reached #68 in the UK charts it established the band in the Jazz Funk/Disco charts of the time and got them noticed by Polydor Records. At the end of 1980 their follow up single "(Flying On The) Wings Of Love" reaching #38 in the UK charts. Word had now got round that Level 42 were one of the most exciting new bands of the 80s, the focal point being Mark King's extraordinary bass-slapping/thumb technique, which even impressed the master of the style, Stanley Clarke. Most of their early singles were minor hits until "The Sun Goes Down (Living It Up)" in 1984 made the UK Top 10.
Their worldwide breakthrough came with the album World Machine. This also coincided with a run of high-quality hit singles between 1985 and 1987, notably, "Something About You", "Leaving Me Now", "Lessons In Love", "Running In The Family" and "It's Over". Both albums Running In The Family and Staring At The Sun were major successes. After the release of "Running In The Family", the band changed its line-u
p drastically with Boon and Phil Gould replaced by Alan Murphy (Go West) and Gary Husband. Murphy tragically died of pneumonia a year after the release of the album Staring At The Sun. Veteran jazz guitarist Allan Holdsworth filled in for the recording of the album Guaranteed. Jakko Jakszyk joined in 1991, adding a stronger sound to the band's live performances.
Despite the return of Philip Gould on drums on Forever Now, Level 42's career had faltered by the mid-90s. They announced their split in 1994, playing their last show at the Royal Albert Hall, London on 14 October. King later acquired the rights to the name and resumed touring in 2002.

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